Johannes Oesterreicher
John Maria Oesterreicher (2 February 1904 – 18 April 1993), born Johannes Oesterreicher, was a Jew who converted to Catholicism, an influential Catholic theologian, and a Zionist.
He was an anti-National Socialist activist in the 1930s and fled from Austria in association with the Anschluss. His parents is stated to have died during the Holocaust.
Oesterreicher became an influential Catholic theologian and a leading advocate of changing Catholic-Jewish relations, He was one of the architects of Nostra aetate or the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions", a declaration that was issued by the Second Vatican Council, also including various very pro-Jewish statements, apparently to the extent of prohibiting any kind of criticisms of Jews by the Catholic Church.
Oesterreicher was strongly pro-Israel.
More generally regarding the role of Jewish converts and others during the Second Vatican Council and associated changes, see the article on the Second Vatican Council and the external links there.
